Labor Day Around the World
by Blue Fire Yukio
Summary: A short story about how different countries celebrate Labor Day


part 1, How it began

America, aka "Alfred" walked into the place where he'd be explaining why his history was so great. The question was, "tell us about your holiday…Labor day." Alfred thought about the question. "Well, the first dude that gave me the idea was Canada. He set aside a day to honor his country's hard workers. In the late 19th century, I got the great idea to start a Labor Movement and Canada's idea just seemed to fit in, you know?" He began. From within the crowd, Alfred could see Canada's little smiling face. He continued, "At first, it was just a small celebration in my country. Then, along with the help of my people, we decided to make it an official holiday in 1894. Since then, its been held on its normal September day. Things have changed over the years though. Now its like, a day where everyone relaxes from work, let off colorful fireworks, and stores have mega huge sales! Its almost like a second fourth of July, just not as busy." Alfred's turn was over for now, but he would be explaining more later on. Now it was time for a few other countries to explain how they celebrated Labor Day.

part 2, Labor day in The Allied Countries

After Alfred Jones left the stage, Mr. China walked up to the interviewer. "In our country, we celebrate Labor Day on May 1st. Before 2008, we celebrated it all week long, but now its just the one day. two other days that are _like_ Labor day, but not considered part of the same celebration, are April 29th and 30th. I believe we started it in 1999. So even though we haven't been doing it long, at least we still have it." China had said. He took a bow, and let the next person come to the podium. Russia, or Ivan Braginsky, was the next one up. He had a nice smile, unlike the previous two nations. "Well, up until 1917, my people celebrated Labor Day Illegally. But now, it's a day of colorful parades and parties. It is a very important day, and among the top holidays. Like a lot of my friends, I hold the celebration May 1st. Although its called by many names, the official name is _The Day of Spring and Labor_." With that, Ivan nodded to the audience and allowed Francis to the stage. Francis looked very nice, and modest. He spoke to the crowd as if this speech was to make people vote on him as president. "Bonjour madams and monsieur, I will now tell you about _my_ celebration of this…Labor day. Also on the first of May, all our workers except the doctors and travel agents get the whole day off. We started the celebration about 1945, when People march through the wonderful streets of France in celebration of their day of rest. You don't have to, but it is a tradition to offer friends and family a lily flower in honor of not just the holiday, but also to Charles the IX who gave lilies to all the gorgeous women of the country." France gave the crowd a charming wink, blew a kiss, and casually walked off the stage. Mr. Iggy came up next, looking at France with a death glare. "In the nice place of the United Kingdom, we do our Labor day activities on may 1st, and we've been doing this since 1978. The main activities, like francy pants, are to march along the streets and celebrate the holiday. Aside from this, people gather together and have their own celebrations. And no! I did not copy off of France, so don't think I cheated!" Iggy walked off the stage with blush across his face, obviously embarrassed. The argumentative voices of Britain and France could be heard as Japan came upon the stage.

part 3, Labor day in the Axis Nations

Japan waited patiently for the two nations to stop fighting. He didn't like to see them fight, because at meetings, that's all they did. When the argument had moved to the next building, Kiku spoke about his interpretation of the subject. "We don't celebrate Labor Day, but we have a set of days that are like Labor Day. On these days, we rest from work like America does. Few parades and rallies are done, but the few I have had contained thousands of participants. The one we had in Yoyogi Park had well over 44,000 people in the rally. I hate to take so much time, so I'll pass the microphone to Germany." Italy really wanted to go, but he wasn't too hasty and let Ludwig go first. The tall German had such a strong voice, that the first time he spoke, major feedback came through the speakers. The sound monitor turned the volume down and advised Ludwig to hold the microphone a little farther from his face. After these adjustments, he continued just fine. "In April 1933, the Nazi government declared may 1st the day of national work. The only drawback is that private celebrations were banned, and only the celebrations that the government allowed could be done. This is because many riots were started on this day. Now though, we have street fairs that take place on days people don't have to work. Because of this, our most recent may days, especially 2006 and 2007, have been very peaceful on the riot scale. It was on may 1st in 2010 that bad riots started again, but were controlled a lot better than before. Leaving you with that, I'll now turn this over to Italy." When the little Italian walked up, he looked frightened. Nobody could tell if it was stage fright, or the horrible note that Ludwig ended his speech on. Perhaps a little of both. "I kind of wished he'd not ended his speech on riots and fighting, but that's Germany for you!" he said, trying to lighten the mood. A few people from within the crowd giggled, but for the most part were silent. "well, allow me to tell you about my Labor day! Our first celebration was on may 1st of 1890. I'll tell you, those were dark times! People struggled for their rights, and hoped for a better working future. We thought all hope was lost, but then…BAM! Things got better for everyone, especially the workers. Now we have big celebrations, with family, friends, food, and lots of music!" He said with lots of enthusiasm and bodily motions to emphasize the feelings. His speech was not very long, but it was more interactive than anyone else's. He ended the speech with an excited squeal and ran off the stage looking very happy.

part 4, Labor Day in the Nordic Nations

After Italy finished, he passed the microphone to Tino. Tino was also a peppy fellow, and spoke as if the whole thing was an intense story book. He didn't use body motions like Italy, but changed his voice to reflect the moods. "I don't have much at all to say, but in our country, we celebrate different ways. Like many we've observed, Finland has colorful parades on may 1st. We are very joyful for the coming of Spring, mostly because the winters are harsh. Spring is nice though, and that's why we celebrate for it! We also cheer for the students that are going into school and graduating. My country takes pride in education, so as you imagine, may day is very important to us." Sweden, whom everyone called "Svi" for short, had a speech that was as short as his name. "Like America, we adopted labor day in the late 19th century. Before 1938, only certain people celebrated it, but up to present day, it's a public holiday. People march through the streets to honor their rights." And he walked away. Finland encouraged him to tell more, but svi refused. The little island nation known as Emil took his turn. "I hate how the Axis and Allies take all our ideas, but I decided to do something a little different in my country. America does this sometimes, but at my place, it's a given. Instead of allowing people a day off, they get paid extra on _Frídagur Verkalý_ _ð_ _sins_ , the Icelandic name of Labor Day. Some people even get paid double their normal salary. Think I'm a cool enough nation yet? We also have parades, marches, and people who come and give elaborate speeches. I'd love to tell you more, but my Impatient brother is over there tapping his foot. I shouldn't take any more of your time and give it to him." He said. Looking to his brother in the back, he turned and gave it to him. Lukas looked a bit offended when he walked up front, and spoke, "Please don't mind my little brother's sarcasm. I was not impatient, just simply giving him a hint that he'd taken enough time. I'm going to keep this short and informative. The Norwegian name for Labour Day is _Arbeidernes Dag_ , and is held on may 1st. When Sweden started labour day, all us neighbors of his followed. To this day, Labour day is an official holiday that everyone celebrates. Oh, and for our last speaker, you may want to cover your ears." After a short pause, a tall blond with an obnoxious voice stole the microphone and turned his short speech into a theatrical scene. "IN DENMARK, LABOUR DAY IS _NOT_ AN OFFICIAL HOLIDAY! HOWEVER…..MOST of the people get half or the whole day off! And How do we celebrate it!?" His voice got a bit quieter as the next part was not too surprising. "We have…people give…political speeches and….yeah" He walked off the stage looking sad. "Well, there's our three major groups, so we'll interview a few interesting subjects, then Alfred will give us our closing." Said the interviewer.

part 5, interesting labor days

"We march to support certain political groups, and people from over 73 countries come to my country to join the march!" Said Cuba triumphantly.

"Nobody works on this day, and take time to thank all those who have worked, are working, or will work to make the future better!" Pakistan said.

"It's a public holiday, and one rally we had contained over 100,000 participants! Which is saying a lot, considering im a fairly small archipalego." Said the little voice of Phillipines.

"Everyone is urged to celebrate on may 1st in my country. We feed most of our workers various kinds of beans, so on this day, everyone also gets a bowl of these as a representation of a workers meal. We also trade red carnation flowers in honor of the strong workers we've had." Crotia spoke in her sweet tone.

"We have wonderous fairs, and open-air celebrations!" Hungary shouted.

"Along with rallies, we show movies and hold concerts as celebrations" says the voice of Ireland.

America then came back to speak in closing. "You see, there are many ways to celebrate this wonderful holiday. Some people have it in September, most have it in May. Some people celebrate with fairs, some just have political speeches. For some, it's a private holiday, and for others it's the whole nation. Some didn't start the tradition until 2014, while others have celebrated for hundreds of years. You want to know what I think? I like them all but America's is the best!" he said. The disagreeing sounds of members in the crowd filled the room. Alfred continued, "you know what else I think? I think I should leave!" and he ran out, with several angry nations chasing after him. Soon, only Canada was there. "And that's how Labor day is celebrated around the world." He said with a sweet smile.


End file.
